


Not Over Yet

by Control_Room



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Crossfaction, Gen, Gift Fic, M/M, Medbay, Slow Build, broken nose mentioned, change of plans, concussion mentioned, escaping, getting captured, hints of Gay(tm)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29270883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: Sometimes the best laid plans are disrupted.
Relationships: (prerelationship), Engineer/Spy (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	Not Over Yet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dispenser](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dispenser/gifts).
  * Inspired by [I'm Gonna Like the Way You Fight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23332591) by [Dispenser](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dispenser/pseuds/Dispenser). 



It was supposed to go perfectly. They had planned for everything and anything, even bringing packs of food and drink just in case they got stuck. The plan itself was flawless, two utterly brilliant men conjuring the smartest and most untrackable idea, a mix of minds that was so impenetrable that Spy knew that it had to have been an inside job. Had someone seen their movements and subsequently gave them away? He could have sworn that he heard the tell tale clack of high heels behind him right before Engineer’s yelp and the bat blinked in his vision moments prior to it all going dark. Yet again, it all happened too fast for his liking. 

He groaned and let his head lean back. His arms were sore and unable to move, as were his legs. Whomever it was that caught them must have known who they were dealing with, and made sure to tie him up tight. Was Engineer in the same situation? Where was Engineer, in any case? Spy could not see him, eyes darting left to right. Trying to speak and call out for him failed too, his mouth dry. 

He cleared his throat painfully, about to try again, when he heard him talk first, a weak, “Spy…?”

“I am here,” Spy quickly assured him. “Are you alright? I am afraid that my good looks are a little off kilter for the time being, as my nose feels like it is broken.”

“And I,” Engineer replied slowly, as if forming words into comprehensive lines was a strenuous task, “Might have a little bit of a concussion.”

“Oh,” Spy winced. “That… does not sound good.”

“No, no it doesn’t, I’ll reckon,” Engineer conceded. “I’m right sure that it sounds pretty bad.”

“Are you tied up?” Spy asked, trying to gauge their situation. Engineer hummed an affirmative. “Well, ah, let’s think of our options.”

“I don’t have my wrench,” Engineer muttered. “Can’t teleport out of here.”

“They must have known about it,” Spy hissed, trying to wriggle himself free. Everything felt strangely stiff and heavy. “Is it somewhere around this area, though?”

“I think it’s on a table just a bit away,” Engineer answered. “I’m going to try to get to it.”

When Engineer moved, Spy realized why it was so hard to do anything.

They were tied to each other.

Engineer seemed to reach the same conclusion at the same time.

“This is both better than I expected and worse,” he commented. “If we’re tied together, maybe we can work together to get up and move. Did you ever have to get up with a partner in a gym class?”

“What the hell are you talking about,” Spy snapped, losing his patience and growing agitated in worry. “Non, I have not.”

“Okay, so what we gotta do is,” Engineer leaned against Spy. “We need to push against each other and get into a vee shape with our legs. On the count of three, one, two, three!”

It took a bit of time, but eventually the two men found themselves on their four feet, panting and groaning from the exertion. 

“On your feet?” Engineer asked between breaths. Spy could only nod. For a mercenary he thought this would be nothing difficult, especially not for a spy, but he supposed that being knocked out and with a concussed partner would make things a bit harder. “Good, good. I think that the best way to do this is to get the wrench in one hand for both of us.”

“Are we retreating?” Spy asked, almost disappointed. He wanted to continue on. Engineer paused, shoulders sagging down. “We can continue. This is just a… small setback, that is all.”

“I-- I want to agree with you,” Engineer said slowly. “But….”

He looked to his feet. He did not know how to word this. 

I don’t want you to get hurt? Your safety and preservation is important? 

“We’re a team. We decided to do this together, and if things are goin’ south as they are, then maybe it would be smart to back up and regroup. To come at this with fresh eyes,” Engineer decided to say. “Maybe that way they wouldn’t think of us as a threat anymore.”

“Or maybe they’ll block off our access point and increase security, which will happen whether or not we stay,” Spy pointed out. Engineer grew silent. “Let’s think about the moment. If we go, we might lose our ability to go through with our plan.”

“You’re right,” Engineer admitted. “I guess I’m a bit worried.”

“You, worried?” Spy snorted. “The man who snuck over enemy lines to place a sentry right by their respawn? He who set up camp directly above the RED respawn?”

“Okay, yes, I might have done some pretty risky things,” Engineer huffed, trying to look for Spy’s knife so they could cut themselves free. “This is different.”

“How so?”

Those, he did alone. Those, he could plan for and escape in the blink of an eye without worrying about anyone or anything. This, in an indescribable way, was different.

However, bringing that up brought an idea to his mind.

“Spy, you can use BLU teleporters, right?”

“Yes, cher, and what does that have to do--”

“What if we get out of here, and watch for when they lax up security again,” Engineer began, and Spy, figuring out his plot, finished for him, “And teleport in while their guard is down. Brilliant.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Engineer hummed. “But we still need to get untied and I need to set up the teleporter somewhere they wouldn’t think to look. And I don’t think that my brain is working enough to determine a place like that.”

“First things first,” Spy soothed, also unable to locate his knife. “Getting out of these ropes.”

“Y-yeah. That’s probably a good start,” Engineer mumbled. It was hard to concentrate. “Do you have any ideas for how to do that?”

“We could try stretching it out and hoping it will loosen,” Spy offered. “Or find something rough to saw it off.”

“Would a buzzsaw work?”

“Yes, I-- where do you see a buzzsaw?”

“Right in front of me.”

Spy craned his neck, and sure enough, there was a circular blade sitting on the table beside Engineer’s wrench. Operating it would be tricky, and not cutting off their fingers would be trickier, but with calm concentration they would be able to use it to their advantage. 

Then there was a pause.

“Wait a second.”

“What?” Spy heard a curious noise in Engineer’s voice, almost as though he was holding in laughter. “What is it, Engineer?”

“Hold my right hand, no, the other right,” Engineer instructed him. “Tight.”

When Spy did so, he was greeted by the unnerving sense that all was not as it seemed within that rubber glove. Sure enough, he could feel the Engineer twist his wrist, bend his elbow, and leave his hand in Spy’s grasp. 

The rope, no longer holding them, fell from Spy’s wrist. They turned to face each other, their other hands still bound. Spy awkwardly held out Engineer’s hand for him to take, staring at the place it should have been on the man’s body. A mechanical base was at his wrist, and Spy quickly realized that he was holding a prosthetic. 

“Did you build it yourself?” he asked, curious. Engineer nodded. “That is incredible.”

“Thank you,” Engineer accepted, blushing just a tad. Spy found it a bit exhilarating to be the first to discover this-- or at least, it felt like it, and that was how he would hold it in his mind. Engineer, breaking away from staring at Spy, turned to fumble with undoing the knot on their still bound wrists. “Uh, do you want to pick where I put the teleporter? Somewhere that we both can reach it, and where it wouldn’t be noticeable.”

“Let’s scout out this hall,” Spy offered. “Perhaps we will be able to spot somewhere of interest. I’m sure that this place is rather dull, as they put us here expecting us to find nothing.”

“True,” Engineer nodded in agreement. “But let’s be careful when we go out. Our only weapons are… a wrench and a buzzsaw.”

“Not exactly ideal, but workable,” Spy commented. “Still, it doesn’t seem like they were expecting us to be able to escape at all, seeing as they did not put any watch over us.”

“Don’t jinx it, Spy,” Engineer warned him. “We don’t know that, maybe whoever was on our watch just stepped out for a smoke.”

“I will backstab them if they did,” Spy told him bluntly. “And yes, with the buzzsaw.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Engineer tried not to laugh. It brought a smirk to Spy’s face, and the man picked up the blade, weighing it in his hand. It was battery powered, which would be quite helpful against any enemies they might encounter. They made their way out into the hallway, glancing around corners to see no one, but if they strained their ears, the sounds of a patrol could be heard in the distance. “Do you want to go left or right?”

Spy pondered for a moment. Left was closer to the central hallway, right seemed to lead to a dead end.

“Let’s go left,” he whispered. “Just with caution.”

Engineer nodded, and the two crept along the path. Glancing along the hallway, they were able to tell that the floor was sloped, and down probably meant where they needed to go. 

They signaled to each other, and Spy slipped into the shadows to find the nearest nook to hide in. Soon he returned to Engineer, and once a guard marched past them, the pair stealthily made their way to a room, the lock already picked by Spy. It was a bit difficult with Engineer’s vision pulsing at times and confusion attacking his senses, but Spy kept him steadily on their goal. 

After repeating this several times, and getting an approximate two miles into the facility over the course of an hour, they finally heard signs that their escape was noticed. Grinning at one another, they were able to make much faster progress now, as the guards of GRN and YLW were going up the hallway slope instead of down, expecting them to have retreated. Soon, they reached a door that was electronically sealed, and Spy frowned. 

“Should we go back now?” he asked Engineer. “So I could get my sapper.”

“Or we could wait for someone to open the door for us,” Engineer replied, but that course of action became disproven as someone did go through the door in a moment-- and it left no window of opportunity to slip through, opening and closing immediately. “Sapper it is.”

They back tracked two rooms to determine where to hide the teleporter. A shelf was brought into question, thought it would be rather annoying to deal with, seeing that it was close to the ceiling and would force them into a stoop, and possibly break their backs. 

“Wait a moment,” Spy reached out his hand to stop Engineer from climbing up the shelves to look around the room. “If, as I think, it was an inside job that gave us away, then they will be expecting us to come back in from above, as that is your rather signature maneuver. So perhaps, a wiser move will be to come from below.”

“What about that there grate?” Engineer asked, pointing at a relatively man sized hole. Spy realized that was a way further into the building. Spy mentioned it to him quietly, and they slipped within. Crawling along quietly, they dropped down into the next flight, and edging into the room, they sighed with relief as no one was around. They crossed the hall into the room across, too many people marching by to be comfortable with going any further without any of their, especially Spy’s, gear. 

They set up the teleporter, and then Spy found himself in a tight hold, Engineer’s face inches from his own, and then there was a strange sensation similar to teleporting, and they were back at spawn-- BLU spawn, to be precise. 

“Medbay, now,” Engineer grunted, hauling Spy over his shoulder much like one of his toolboxes. The medical bed under his back was strangely comfortable, and the healing rays sinking into him felt like a blissful blessing as well. He suddenly was assaulted by smells, now realizing that he had been unable to due to his nose having been swollen. He sighed and relaxed, his eyes closing out of instinct. The Engineer smelled of sweat and hard work, but more importantly, safety, and it let him drift….

“Spy, don’t pass out on me again, now,” firm hands shook his shoulders. His eyes snapped open, and he tried to ask him what he meant by ‘again’, but his mouth was too dry. “You awake now? Good. Good. You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Spy replied, rubbing his eyes. The scent of the Engineer was again in his nostrils, this time awakening him rather than putting him to sleep. “I… I didn’t realize. It was very soothing.”

“Ah yeah, I know,” Engineer huffed, sitting next to him and leaning against him under the tranquil rays of the medbay’s medigun. “I wonder if this stuff can fix up a concussion….”

“We’ll see,” Spy mumbled, leaning against him as well. The change of plans, at first a painful poke at his pride, now seemed further away than he could have dreamed. And, he decided, as an arm wrapped over his shoulder, soft muscle embracing him in a half hug, that he preferred this outcome, in a strange, sentimental way he thought he had shed many years ago. His own arm snaked behind Engineer’s back, and the two of them sat there, silently inhaling and exhaling, glad to be alive and with one another. Spy, stirring out of his trance and growing a touch embarrassed, coughed, and then asked Engineer: “Do you think we should infiltrate again in the dead of night or in broad daylight? Both will have the advantage of surprise.”

“Right now, I can’t think much about that,” Engineer told him in response.

“Fair enough,” Spy answered with a slight smile and shrug. “Are you feeling any better, though?”

“It feels like my brain is being remolded,” Engineer replied, rubbing his forehead. “It hurts a little, but I hope it will get better soon.”

“Aw, poor Engie,” Spy crooned, and began rubbing circles over the man’s temples. “Is this helping at all?”

“Yeah, it is,” he sighed. “Thank you.”

Spy said nothing. He did not feel like there was anything to say. Instead, he rubbed his temples for a few moments longer, and then leaned back against his strong hold. They breathed in unison as their bodies and minds rested and healed.

Looking at each other when they finally got up, they both grinned, reinvigorated.

The game wasn’t over until they called it.


End file.
